Family members of Joe McKnight identified the former NFL player and John Curtis Christian High School standout as the man who was shot dead Thursday (Dec. 1) afternoon in Terrytown.

The shooting, reported about 3 p.m., occurred at the busy intersection of Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard.

A 2010 photo of Joe McKnight of the New York Jets. (AP Photo)AP

McKnight, 28, who was born in Kenner, played for the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs and attended University of Southern California. He graduated from John Curtis in 2007.

A witness, who declined to give her name, said she was leaving a store in the area when she saw a man at the intersection yelling at another man, who was trying to apologize. The man who was yelling shot the other man more than once, she said.

She said the shooter shot the man, stood over him and said "I told you don't you f--- with me." Then he fired again, she said.

McKnight's body was on Behrman Highway, a main thoroughfare, surrounded by black shields to block the view from the public. The screens were placed behind McKnight's gray Audi SUV and the blue Infiniti sedan authorities said belonged to the shooter.

His cousin Roxanne Lundy came to the scene after a relative called her to tell her what happened.

"He didn't deserve it," said Lundy. "He was a good guy, it was 100 percent unnecessary."

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, speaking to reporters at the scene, said the shooter, who he identified as Ronald Gasser, 54, stayed on the scene and turned his gun in to authorities. Gasser was in custody and was being questioned, the sheriff said.

He said McKnight did not have a gun, and deputies did not find a gun outside the vehicle. Deputies have not searched the inside of McKnight's vehicle.

The Times-Picayune in December 2009 named McKnight the high school athlete of the decade.

Bystander video taken at the scene shortly after the shooting shows an emergency responder doing chest compressions on McKnight while several people can be heard yelling in the background.

"It could have been any one of us," says a woman's voice from behind the camera.